Death in the Wind
by Applefern
Summary: "Do not shout, do not cry, no one will find you, until you die." When a mysterious shadow warns the clan of danger, they are plunged into the path of a serial killer who's actions not even StarClan can predict.
1. Prologue

**Name: Death in the Wind**

**Rating: M**

**Summary: _"Do not shout, do not cry, no one will find you, until you die." When a mysterious shadow warns the clan of danger, they are plunged into the path of a serial killer who's actions not even StarClan can predict._**

**Themes: _Horror, Mystery_**

**WARNING: EXTREME GORE AND VIOLENCE. If you have a weak stomach you might not want to read this. If you ignored this, then don't you dare say I didn't warn you.**

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

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><p>It was sunhigh. Clan camp was at it usual vibrant activity; cats going to and from patrols, prey being added to the pile, queens watching as their kits tumbled around, elders telling stories of times from long ago.<p>

Amongst this, Leafpool padded from the medicine cat den, placing each white paw in from of her slowly to the highledge. The sun draped over her light brown tabby pelt as she leaped quietly up and halted at the entrance of Firestar's den. Her green eyes were round with worry.

"Firestar," she called softly into his den. A muffled meow from inside told her she was allowed entry, so she swiftly padded inside.

Firestar was seated on his nest, a half-eaten squirrel at his paws. He frowned with concern at the look on Leafpool's face.

"What is it?" he asked, shifting on his nest.

"A prophecy," Leafpool told him, twitching her ear in discomfort. "I don't like the sound of it at all."

"What is the prophecy?" Firestar asked, sitting up.

Leafpool took a breath. _"If the predator is killed, the curse will come, and spare none but those who do not look upon its eyes and the flower who understands."_

Firestar sat in silence for a bit, staring off into the distance as he considered the words he had just heard. "What does it mean?" he meowed at last.

"I don't know," Leafpool meowed quietly.

Outside, in the camp clearing, Birchfall and Berrynose were just returning from a hunting patrol. In his jaws, Birchfall carried an unusually large piece of prey; one of its wings trailed along the dusty earth as he padded into camp even thought his head was held high with pride. From nearby the nursery, two kits bounded up to Birchfall to admire his catch.

"What's that?" Toadkit asked, peering at the bird's dark feathery coat.

Birchfall set the creature down, letting the corpse flop lazily on the earth. "It's an owl," he told them, unable to conceal his pride.

"Wow!" Toadkit exclaimed. "How did you catch it?" His eyes brightened with interest.

"I was just in the forest, looking for some prey for the Clan," Birchfall began, "and I saw it sitting on a low branch. I took my chance and caught it before it could say 'cat'!"

Purdy, sitting nearby, meowed, "I heard catching an owl's bad luck." Rosekit glanced at him nervously.

Berrynose rolled his eyes at this comment. "Yeah, and hedgehogs can fly. Honestly, Purdy, how can you believe that sort of stuff?"

Purdy snorted, muttering, "Youngsters these days, no respect…"

"What're you going to do with it?" Toadkit asked Birchfall, gazing at the owl.

Birchfall shrugged. "Perhaps I could put it somewhere everyone could see it."

Far away, in the depths of the forest, something stirred, and someone in camp already knew about it.

Hollyleaf stood just inside the tunnel, gazing up at Lionblaze and Jayfeather. Her heart was torn with despair at everything that had happened before, how it had all gone wrong.

"Hollyleaf," Jayfeather meowed, his voice shaking slightly, "you've got to listen to us."

Hollyleaf barely heard him. "I'm sorry," she meowed softly. "I was only trying to do what was best. I couldn't let Ashfur live! For all our sakes! You understand that, don't you?"

Lionblaze gasped. "_You_ killed Ashfur?" he exclaimed.

Hollyleaf bowed her head in shame. Why couldn't he understand? "He should have been swept into the lake and never seen again," she meowed in hopelessness.

She paused. "I _know_ I did the right thing," her voice vibrated with despair, "but no cat will ever understand."

Just before she turned away, she saw a pair of eyes gazing at her from behind Jayfeather and Lionblaze. They watched her from the shadows of the forest, forewarning her of danger. They gleamed yellow, smirking at her, before she turned and ran into the tunnel.

Suddenly a low rumble came. The whole ground seemed to shake, and above her Hollyleaf saw the roof begin to fall in around her. She heard Jayfeather cry out behind her, but soon the soil crumbled around her, snapping her spine like a twig and cracking her skull like a nut. Her blood began to ooze into the soil as she slowly suffocated. She gave one last struggle before the earth buried her body forever.

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><p><strong>For all of you people who expected tons of gore in the prologue, don't be disappointed yet. The violence gets worse as the story progresses. And for you people you really don't like gore... good luck.<strong>


	2. Chapter 1

**Here's the first chapter. It's all nice and cheerful, until their interrupted by a mysterious guest *insert spooky music*. If you're worried about violence, the only bit you'll find is a small bit near the end.**

**I forgot to say, this story is set a moon after sunrise. During that time, Foxleap and Icecloud became warriors. The prologue was set during sunrise.**

**I will try and do the POV's of as many cats as I can during the story, which is why it may seem a little random.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors or any of the characters. I only own the story and the 'mysterious guest'.**

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><p><em>Birchfall's POV<em>

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the highledge!" Firestar's voice echoed around camp. It about a moon since Hollyleaf's death and the Clan had gotten used to not having her in camp. Today, an apprentice ceremony was going to be performed.

The Clan gathered before Firestar, eager to see the ceremony. It was always good news to have apprentices in the Clan, and lots of cats would want to be their mentors. Birchfall felt a surge of hunger at this thought; hopefully he would be chosen as the mentor

"The time has come to appoint two new apprentices," Firestar began, looking down on his Clan. "Toadkit, come forward."

The eager black and white kit bounded forward, skidding to a halt below the flame-coloured leader. Birchfall couldn't help but long for this eager apprentice. His mate, Whitewing, had already had an apprentice, and he knew that he was old enough to get one. But would Firestar choose him?

"You have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed," Firestar announced. "From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Toadpaw."

Toadpaw squealed, but quickly muffled it after his mother, Daisy, shot him a glare. Beside Birchfall, Berrynose's throat rumbled with a purr of amusement.

"Cloudtail" – Firestar summoned his nephew – "you are ready to take on an apprentice. You received excellent training from me, and you have shown yourself to be courageous and independent. You will be the mentor of Toadpaw, and I expect you to pass on all I taught you onto him." Birchfall's spirit fell as Toadpaw was given his mentor, but he still hoped that he would get the other apprentice, Rosekit.

Cloudtail strutted proudly forward, his long white fur glowing in the newleaf sun, and touched noses with his new, very eager apprentice.

Firestar turned to Rosekit. "Rosekit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed," he called. "From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Rosepaw."

"Squirrelflight, you are ready to take on an apprentice," Firestar addressed the ginger she-cat. "You received excellent training from Dustpelt and you have shown yourself to be courageous and determined. You will be the mentor of Rosepaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her."

As Squirrelflight padded forward and touched noses with the newly named Rosepaw, Birchfall's spirits fell. He was sure he was worthy enough, so why hadn't Firestar chosen him?

Firestar opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off when suddenly a dark shadow appeared in the centre of camp, rising up out of the ground like a ghost. It eyes seem to everywhere and nowhere at the same time; nobody escaped its glare.

"_Beware, beware, you have stirred a dark spirit, and you will pay. Look upon my eyes, and no more will you live, for you carry the curse of the angst,"_ it snarled. A cold breeze swept across camp, chilling Birchfall to the bone. With a last smirk, the shadow vanished.

Immediately the Clan started panicking. Behind him, he heard Jayfeather meow, "What was that?"

Firestar yowled. "There is nothing to be afraid of!"

Berrynose raised his voice. "It was probably just StarClan warriors playing a trick on us!"

Some cats meowed in agreement. Birchfall was among them.

"Why would StarClan trick us?" Ferncloud pointed out worriedly.

"Well," Berrynose growled, "in case you didn't know, not all StarClan warriors are from ThunderClan! It was probably some bored ShadowClan cats!"

More cats agreed with Berrynose, and the clearing seemed to calm down a bit now they had something logical to blame the incident on.

"I will discuss this with my senior warriors," Firestar announced. "Brambleclaw, organise patrols before you join us."

Brambleclaw dipped his head and made his way over the Clan warriors. Sandstorm, Dustpelt, Greystripe, Brackenfur and Cloudtail padded up to Firestar to discuss the situation.

"Squirrelflight, Rosepaw, Sorreltail and Foxleap. I want you to patrol the WindClan border," Brambleclaw immediately began giving out orders. "Thornclaw, Berrynose, Birchfall and Lionblaze, I want you to go hunting."

Birchfall nodded and padded up to Thornclaw with Berrynose beside him. Lionblaze joined them shortly afterwards, looking as if he'd rather be in the middle of ShadowClan's camp.

"Why are we waiting?" Birchfall asked.

Thornclaw turned away. "Let's go."

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><p><em>Berrynose's POV<em>

Berrynose followed Thornclaw as they padded away from camp. They were unusually quiet after the mysterious event in camp. _The whole shadow thing in camp was _obviously_ a trick; even a blind kit could see it!_ Berrynose thought.

"What do you think that was all about?" Lionblaze meowed, clearly trying weakly to make conversation with cats he didn't like.

"I'm going to hunt over here!" Berrynose meowed deliberately loudly, ignoring Lionblaze and padding away into the forest.

He nosed around for some prey amongst the dense undergrowth and soon spotted rabbit near the root of a tree. He immediately pounced, without even caring to stalk, and chased the rabbit through the forest.

The trees whisked by as he raced after the creature. He almost had his claws on it, but something unfocused him, causing him to stumble. By the time he recovered, the rabbit had escaped.

He glanced around, uncertain about what had distracted him. There was nothing unusual about the forest around him, and he couldn't hear or smell anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed fine. So what had caught his attention?

At first, he didn't notice it. The wind seemed to drop in temperature abruptly, sending a shiver up Berrynose's spine. For a moment, he was a little anxious, but then he kicked some sense into himself.

_Seriously, it's just the _wind_! There's nothing for me to be afraid of,_ Berrynose thought to himself.

Then he heard the crack of a twig snapping behind him. Berrynose whirled round in surprise, and froze at what he saw. His heart hammered in his chest for a couple of seconds before he screeched in horror.

_Do not shout, do not cry; no one will find you, until you die, _the wind whispered.

Then Berrynose turned and ran into his death.

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><p><em>Lionblaze's POV<em>

Lionblaze was finding the hunting patrol terrible. He didn't like any of the cats on the patrol, and he would have done anything to go on patrol with someone else.

Then he heard Berrynose's yowl. He froze for a second, uncertain of what to do. Birchfall leaped to his paws and immediately ran towards the noise, Thornclaw at his tail. Lionblaze quickly scrambled after them.

A second cry came from Berrynose, this one a never-ending scream of pain.

"Berrynose!" Birchfall cried as the patrol increase their speed. As they approached Berrynose's location, the scent of blood rose in the air. Lionblaze overtook Birchfall and Thornclaw, halting abruptly when he found the tom.

For a second, Lionblaze could barely what he was seeing. The repulsiveness of the sight made him was to throw up. "Great StarClan…" he murmured, shivering with horror.

Berrynose was lying on the earth, a piece of glass impaled in his eye. Blood oozed out of the wound, seeping hungrily into the earth. He screeched in pain, spasms running through his body, and gave one last thrash before he went still. His remaining eye was glazed wide open with fear.

"Berrynose…?" Birchfall murmured hopefully, but the cream warrior didn't stir.

"He's dead," Thornclaw said.

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><p><strong>Any of you thinking this should just be a T? Well, read on through the story and watch me prove you wrong *evil laugh*<strong>

**Please R&R!**


	3. Chapter 2

**_Jayfeather's POV_**

Though he couldn't see Berrynose, Jayfeather could guess how gruesome his wound appeared. After all, having a piece of glass sticking out of your eye isn't the prettiest thing in the world. And there were everyone's reactions and emotions every time they saw him.

Firestar was sitting beside Jayfeather in the medicine cat den, looking the body. Only with a lot of effort was Jayfeather able to tune out of Firestar's thoughts about the injury; his revolt was almost overpowering.

"How could he have gotten glass in his eye?" Firestar meowed at last.

"I'm guessing he tripped," Jayfeather meowed. "It probably sticking upwards, and he was unfortunate enough to fall onto it."

Firestar nodded. "But how would that kill him? Brightheart lost her eye and she's fine."

"It must have penetrated very deeply," Jayfeather told him. It had been very difficult to get out.

Firestar was silent for a few moments. "Thank you Jayfeather."

**_Birchfall's POV_**

Berrynose's death had greatly shaken Birchfall. Berrynose had always been a very good friend of his, and it was hard to accept that he had died of something so unlucky and stupid.

He would have sat with him during the night, but the injury on his face still raised too many horrible memories. Instead, he asked to guard camp.

So he stood at the entrance to camp, lost in his own thoughts, until he heard a noise. The patter of tiny paws. He glanced around, and saw a small shape moving in the shadows. It took him a couple of seconds to realise what – or rather, who – it was.

"Blossomkit, what are you doing?" he whispered. The tortoiseshell kit emerged from where she was hiding, her eyes full of shame.

"I wanted to sneak out of camp and see the forest," she meowed quietly.

Birchfall purred with amusement. He opened his mouth to say something, but the he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and froze at the creature that stood before him. He went to cry out a warning, but his voice was lodged in his thought.

_Do not shout, do not cry; no one will find you, until you die,_ the wind whispered.

Birchfall recognised one feature of the creature before him. He had seen it, only once before, and to see it again here momentarily confused him... until he realised what it meant.

"I'm sorry," Birchfall murmured, before he breathed his last.

**_Millie's POV_**

Millie woke up, yawning in the light of dawn. Something told her that something wasn't quite right. It took her only a moment to work it out.

Blossomkit was gone.

Millie stood up immediately, searching every corner of the den and waking Daisy in the process.

"What are you doing?" the she-cat murmured drowsily.

"Have you seen Blossomkit?" Millie asked anxiously. Daisy sat up, more awake.

"No," she replied. "Have you looked outside? She might have sneaked out early."

Millie padded outside, just as Brambleclaw, Cloudtail, Icecloud and Toadpaw were leaving on the dawn patrol. Brambleclaw, in the lead, padded through the entrance and suddenly yowled in shock, loud enough to wake most cats in camp.

_Are we being attacked?_ Millie thought. Toadpaw padded back into camp, his eyes wide but not fearful.

"What is it?" Millie asked worriedly. She could tell something bad had happened.

"Birchfall and Blossomkit…" Toadpaw murmured. "They're… they're just outside camp…" Toadpaw clearly didn't know how to tell her.

Millie raced past him with more speed than she thought she possessed. She rushed through the camp entrance, where Brambleclaw, Cloudtail and Icecloud were looking down at two broken bodies.

_No…_ Millie thought, too choked to speak. Birchfall's pelt was covered in masses scars and wounds – so many in fact, that he was barely recognisable. There was only the occasional patch of fur. The wounds were old, probably dealt a long time ago.

Blossomkit was covered in so much dried blood and injuries that Millie nearly mistook her own kit for someone else's. Her tail had been torn off, her ears had been shredded and one of her eyes looked like it could fall out.

Millie wailed.

**_Leafpool's POV_**

Two more deaths brought great fear on the Clan. Unlike Berrynose, these deaths were completely unexplained. Many cats blamed the shadow that had appeared the day before. They believed that the 'dark spirit' had cursed them, and that it had killed Birchfall and Blossomkit as a result of this. Other cats believed that a fox or badger had attacked them in the night, but this was unlikely. There was no scent of them left behind.

What did Leafpool think? She thought that the prophecy she had received from StarClan fitted perfectly with the appearance of the shadow, and that perhaps the dark spirit would kill them. Whatever the 'predator' was, clearly someone had killed it. At least, if Birchfall and Blossomkit's deaths were anything to do with this.

Once again, Leafpool padded up to Firestar's den and called to him. "Firestar."

"Enter," he reply rumbled from inside his den. Leafpool entered. Her father was pacing around his den, his movements shaking with nervousness.

She waited to see if he would stop to listen to her, but he kept pacing. "Firestar?" she asked, after a few moments.

He halted. "I don't know what to do, Leafpool," he meowed. "How can I stop this prophecy coming about?"

"I don't know…" Leafpool replied honestly, feeling helpless. "The Clan don't know about it."

"Yes, but that doesn't change anything!" Firestar pointed out, snarling. "What we need to make sure is that no one looks into its eyes! That's what the prophecy said!"

Leafpool was stunned by this passionate response. She stared at him, unsure of how to reply, and hurt that her father had yowled at her.

Firestar sighed, the anger disappearing from his eyes. "I'm sorry Leafpool. Please, just… tell Jayfeather about the prophecy, he has a right to know."

Leafpool nodded and padded out of his den to tell Jayfeather about this prophecy. Just how she was going to talk to him without being snapped at, she had no idea, but she had to try.

She looked around camp, carefully avoiding looking at the two corpses in the centre of camp, and spotted Jayfeather entering the medicine cat den. She padded towards the den and bumped into him as he was leaving.

"Leafpool, what are you doing here?" Jayfeather growled. "You're not a medicine cat any more. Go do your warrior duties like you're supposed to."

"I have something to tell you," Leafpool meowed, gazing at her son. She still felt so guilty about lying to him, and it felt as if nothing would put it right.

"Well, spit it out," Jayfeather snapped. "I have to treated Millie's shock."

"It's prophecy I received when I was still medicine cat," Leafpool told him straight out. _"If the predator is killed, the curse will come, and spare none but those who do not look upon its eyes and the flower who understands."_

Jayfeather stared at her for a few moments before padding past her. Leafpool sighed sadly. Her own children didn't even like her, there was a prophecy about a curse and she didn't even fit properly into Clan life any more.

_What has my life amounted to?_ Leafpool thought sadly.

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><p><strong>Well there's another chapter. Finally. Sorry about leaving it so long. I actually wrote this a while ago.<strong>

**Spottedstream - Right now I kind of agree, but it is going to get worse. I'll just put it to T now, and if it gets too bad I'll put it up to M.**


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